The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 22, 2024

Skeletons, also known as Allegory of Death and Fame

Skeletons, also known as Allegory of Death and Fame

1518
(Italian, 1490–1540)
a design by

after Rosso Fiorentino

(Italian, 1494–1540)
Italy, 16th century
engraving
Sheet: 30.9 x 50.8 cm (12 3/16 x 20 in.); Secondary Support: 41.2 x 61.2 cm (16 1/4 x 24 1/8 in.)
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1993.8
Catalogue raisonné: Bartsch 424 ( XIV.320) ; Passavant VI. 60.93
Location: not on view

Description

Although for centuries scholars have attempted to understand the allegorical meaning of this print, 16th-century artist and author Giorgio Vasari described it simply as “an anatomy of desiccated nudes and of bones of the dead.” A central figure of winged Death stands over an interred skeleton, surrounded by a variety of skeletal and living human figures who appear to debate the fate of the soul. At far left is a “marasmic” man, a type of sun-dried body used by anatomists to study the muscles without removing the skin. Rosso Fiorentino, who designed the composition of this print to be engraved by Agostino Veneziano, was a Florentine contemporary of Michelangelo who planned a book on anatomy that was never published.
  • Sir Peter Lely (1618-1680), London, stamp (Lugt 2092), lower center, in black ; Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth, sold: Christie's, London, Dec. 5, 1985, lot 71, repr. ; purchased from (R.M. Light & Co., Santa Barbara, CA)
  • Master/Apprentice: Imitation and Inspiration in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 13, 2019-February 23, 2020).
    The Novel and the Bizarre: Salvator Rosa's Scenes of Witchcraft. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 15-June 14, 2015).
    The Cleveland Museum of Art (2/15/2015 - 6/14/2015); "The Novel and the Bizarre: Salvator Rosa's Scenes of Witchcraft"
    Early Italian Engraving: 1460's - 1530's. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 25-October 27, 2002).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; August 25-October 27, 2002. "Early Italian Engravings: 1460s - 1530s."
    Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 3-October 26, 1997).
    Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Museum of Art; 8/3/97 - 10/26/97. "Mannerism: Italian, French, and Netherlandish Prints, 1520-1620."
  • {{cite web|title=Skeletons, also known as Allegory of Death and Fame|url=false|author=Agostino Veneziano, Rosso Fiorentino|year=1518|access-date=22 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.8